KT – DA: Yay! Another chapter done on time!
Marth: Milady, are you going to keep this up?
Roy: yeah, you were pretty enthusiastic about this when you first started, but then you left us for all that time…
Link: Twice!
KT – DA: well, I can't promise anything, but I DO know how the story ends now! That's a good thing!
Marth: That's wonderful!
KT – DA: Okay, Roy, do the stuff so I can post this one and move on to the next!
Roy: Alright! Kuroi Tenshi – Dark Angel doesn't own SSBM at all. Nada. Zippo. Nothing.
KT – DA: I do have dreams where I own Marth, though…
Link: We don't want to hear about them. We DO want to thank everyone for reviewing.
Marth: Milady would also like to inform her readers that she doesn't actually know anything about my background story, and so this just came out of her head.
KT – DA: here's the chapter!
Getting Over Our Troubles – The Ruin of Altea
Sarah Holly was a little nervous to have Marth in her room, but she was curious about what he wanted to say. Besides, she told herself, the prince was her friend. Surely he was trustworthy. Keeping that thought in her head, she called Marth over to sit with her.
Marth knelt facing Sarah on the bed, hands clasped in his lap. "I have never told anyone else about this. I… don't like talking about it."
"Then why are you telling me?" Sarah asked.
The prince hesitated. "Milady, I'm not really sure. Something about you just makes me want to tell you about it." He looked away, staring out the window. "You told me you dark secret."
Sarah blushed. "I was upset then. I would appreciate it if you kept that 'dark secret' to yourself."
"I never planned to do otherwise, Milady."
Sarah could see some emotion in his eyes as he looked at her, but she couldn't tell what it was. "Are you okay, Marth?"
Marth gave her a sad smile. "I'm going to tell you about Altea.
Sarah held her breath.
"I was the oldest son of the king of Altea. I had two younger brothers, a younger sister, and an older sister. I loved them all, and my mother and father, very much. Altea was a beautiful, prosperous kingdom. My father did a good job keeping the peace.
"But one day, the kingdom of Bern declared war on Altea. They had no real reason to do so, and I don't remember their made up excuse. We had to rush to put together an army, since my father had disbanded the old one.
"Father put me in charge of a unit of men and ordered me to defend our borders. We arrived too late. Bern had already raided and burned our farms to ashes. The people had been enslaved, taken back to Bern to be sold. Those that remained free looked at us as villains. They blamed the royal family for not protecting them.
"Things just got worse from there. Bern pushed easily into our capitol, until they reached the palace. They burned our people's homes as they came. When they caught my family, I was out with the army. We heard a clanging from the top tower, and the fighting stopped. Bern's general had my family there, all tied up and dressed in rags. The people called them traitors and begged for them to be hung. Bern acquiesced to their request. I couldn't do anything but watch them murder my whole family. That was my sixteenth birthday.
"The few men still alive in my unit were loyal to me, and they helped me escape the city. I sent one of them back to see if anyone else would take my part. When he returned to our hiding place, he informed me that my people had indeed turned on me. I had been sentenced with death if I ever set foot in Altea again. My people exiled me from my own home in favor of the Bernese usurper.
"In the escape over the borders, the rest of my men were killed. I wandered, taking help from those strangers who were kind enough to offer it. I had no friends. When I finally found myself at Smash Mansion, I signed up for the tournament. I had nothing better to do, you see."
Marth fell silent and stared out the window.
Sarah was speechless. She had assumed that Marth's story would be bad, but this was horrible. The prince had been forced to watch his family die, then had his people, title, and home stripped from him. His people had betrayed him, thinking that he had left them to be defeated. It was enough to drive anyone insane, and Marth had only been sixteen when it happened.
Sarah realized that her mouth was open in a silent gasp and closed it. "Marth… Marth, I'm so sorry."
The prince turned to look at her, blinking rapidly. "They were right to exile me. I could have been to the border farms faster." His voice cracked as he spoke.
"Oh, no Marth. Don't you dare blame yourself for the whole thing. You said so yourself, Bern attacked you with no cause!" Sarah cried, appalled that he would even think of accusing himself.
Marth stared. "Milady… you actually thing that?"
"Marth, terrible things happened to everyone, not the least of which was you. The ones who did those things were the Bernese invaders, not you, not your family, not even you people. The invaders presented you people with a crumples, smashed, broken image of your family as a scapegoat, and they took it," Sarah said, trying to sound calm and soothing.
Marth shook his head. "Sarah, I left them defenseless-"
"You did not!" Sarah did not realize that she was shouting. "Marth, saying that your country's fall was your doing is like… it's just like me saying that being raped was my fault!"
A look of shock appeared on the prince's face. "Milady…"
"You told me, on the stage after Zelda was hurt, that the broken sphere wasn't my fault. I was so upset then that I started thinking that everything was my fault, even the rape, but you told me it wasn't. Maybe I only dreamed that you did, but it was you, whichever way." Sarah found that she was breathing hard.
Marth wiped his eyes and looked at Sarah with wonder. Neither said anything for a long time, letting the silence blanket the room. Sarah glanced at the clock on her bedside table. 1:06 in the morning. She looked back at Marth.
"Will you tell me about it?"
Sarah nodded in answer to the prince's question.
KT – DA: What-hey! Good, no? Okay, I realize that it's crap, but just go with it.
Roy: Ooh! I get it! The title refers to Marth, right?
Marth: um…
Link: /rolls eyes/
KT – DA: well… sort of… but I wasn't really looking into it that… um… poetically.
Marth: I think that she meant the war that, you know, ruined Altea.
Roy: /sticks out tongue/
KT – DA: please review!